The ‘IT’ Sequel Definitely Needs Jessica Chastain as Beverly

The ‘IT’ Sequel Definitely Needs Jessica Chastain as Beverly

The weird thing about IT is that, for a two part movie series, it doesn’t seem like an awful lot of thought has gone into the second part of the story at present.

This isn’t by any means a bad thing – it allows the first movie to stand on its own as a solid piece of period horror, without constantly setting up awkward plot points for future movies.

In a modern cinematic environment where every awful movie is envisioned at the start of a longrunning series, and where such films must, seemingly by law, constantly dangle teases in front of the audience for what might come next, it’s wonderfully refreshing for a film to be so focused on delivering a solid first chunk that it doesn’t bother constantly trying to force audiences to care about its sequel.

Heck, some audiences have been genuinely surprised at the concept of a second IT movie at all – the fact that this film isn’t called IT: Chapter One on all the posters shows an incredible amount of restraint from the marketing team – or else, more likely a lack of faith that the project would actually turn out to be a hit.

Either way, director Andy Muchietti is now rushing to get everything organized for the movie’s sequel, which will reunite the Losers 27 years later as they must yet again do battle with Pennywise.

For an ordinary pair of movies like this, the temptation would be to get the grown-up actors on board first, as they’ll be the ones who deliver the best performances, and then work backwards to hire kids that resemble these big name stars. Not with this movie, though – Muchietti doesn’t have a clue who should play half of these characters when he makes the next movie.

That’s great – it’s again a large part of why the first IT succeeds. The focus has been on finding child actors who perfectly fit the roles they’re playing, rather than casting kids who look a bit like their older counterparts.

Source: Warner Bros

At present, Muchietti does have one piece of casting in mind. He wants Beverly to be played by Jessica Chastain. At least, that’s what he’s said in a recent interview when asked whether he felt Chastain would be a good fit for the role.

“Jessi is an amazing actress and very good friend and I would love her to play Beverly. She loves the movie and it feels like the planets are aligned in that sense, but we still have to make that happen. There are a lot of ideas for the rest of the cast that I’m playing with, but it’s a bit too premature to say those names right now.”

So, this isn’t set in stone, and it might just be wishful thinking on the part of fans to assume that this would ever come to fruition, but at the same time, this potential casting is just too perfect to ignore.

In all honesty, Jessica Chastain deserves all the love she can get. There’s a reason she’s such a big star at the moment, and it’s in large part because she’s proven that she can take on any kind of role and run with it in unique ways.

If you need any proof that she’d work wonders as a grown up Beverly in IT: Chapter Two, look no further than Interstellar, which is, to a certain extent, the same premise.

Source: Warnet Bros

Sure, there are no big, scary monsters in Interstellar, but Murph Cooper’s arc in the film is all about growing up, facing reality, and working through daddy issues. Yes, there’s a bit difference between Murph’s dad and Beverly’s dad, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not touching the same vague type of story here as both struggle to come to terms with the negative effects of their fathers’ impact on their lives.

Plus (and this is an important point) it’d be absolutely awesome to see Jessica Chastain, filled with grim determination, fighting against an evil monster clown.

That’s cinema worth watching, all by itself.

Whether we’ll get this or any other fan favorite casting in IT: Chapter Two remains to be seen. To a certain extent it would feel poetic to get Seth Green in to play the grown up version of Finn Wolfhard’s character, if only because Green played Ritchie in the original Tim Curry adaptation of IT. That’s unlikely, but it’s worth holding out at least a little hope for.

In the meantime, we can all sleep safe in the knowledge that, if we’re very lucky, Jessica Chastain might soon have a place in this new hit franchise.

It’s easier to ignore the monster under your bed if you know that somewhere out there, Jessica Chastain is beaning Pennywise over the head with a lead pipe.